“He dropped on me right out of the chute. I thought it was a forest monkey. Do monkeys live in this Forest?.. Anyway, I wanted to shoot him down, but got stuck with reloading, and then there are two dogs after me, and he—”

  Adrian kept quiet. Quietly, he waited, boiling inside. He was sitting on a little white couch. In fact, everything around him was white. White walls without a single stain. A table with a white cloth. White electronic clock. White linoleum. White cold LED lamps on the ceiling. From all this unfamiliar whiteness, he felt like going blind.

  “Calm down, Inanna. I understand your excitement about any event that happens in this wilderness. But there is no reason to be so loud.”

  A man stepped out from behind the archway leading into the next room. He was in his forties, tall, lean, sinewy; a high-quality scientific protective suit showed clearly beneath the white doctor’s coat. On his snub nose sat large, round glasses, behind which his bright eyes squinted, while his thin, pale lips curved in a smile, once again sizing up the guest. Adrian instantly noticed a pistol handle sticking below the coat on his side.

  “Take off your suit, please. I want to check your arm.”

  “No need, it’s fine…”

  “Don’t argue with me,” the man said wearily. There was something in his voice that instantly made Adrian surrender. He silently took off the top part of his suit. The scientist pulled out a pair of scissors, accurately cut the bandage, opening the wound. A stench broke out, making Adrian grimace. The skin around the bite was pale green, with black stains of dried blood.

  The man shook his head.

  “Inny, I see that you’ve already taken care of this. Could you please take a blood sample and then give him the meds?”

  In a few seconds, the girl appeared, holding a syringe. Adrian winced when the needle pierced his vein. Afterwards, Inny changed his bandage with a fresh one, adding a soft gasket soaked in something with a strong chemical smell. She dressed it now far more professionally than she had in the Forest, perhaps even better than what he would get in the shelter’s hospital.

  “Drink this.”

  Adrian obediently swallowed a few pills and drank from the glass of water she gave him. Turned his look at the man, who sat silently in front of him during the whole procedure. An uneasy silence fell.

  “Well, hero?” the man said finally, smiling. “Inny has already told me about your meeting—in detail, no less.”

  “I heard,” Adrian muttered.

  “I suppose you’re expecting a reward for saving her?”

  “I don’t need a reward. I need my backpack. You snatched it this morning. From the Ghost Trail.”

  “You’re a man of business, I see. Inanna, could you please make us some tea? First of all, young man, we should be introduced to each other. My name is Albert Salzman.”

  “Adrian. Adrian Thorne.”

  “Thorne?” Something changed in the scientist’s face, like he was desperately trying to remember something. Adrian remained silent. “Is this your real name? Or it’s a… hm, therizer’s moniker?”

  “It’s the real one. Well. As much as they told me in the orphanage.”

  “The orphanage? Who were your parents, boy?”

  Good question, Adrian thought. How many times had he asked it himself to Burakovsky, or his teachers, or pretty much any adult he found trustworthy? The answer had always been the same, and eventually he ceased trying. Although that did not mean he gave up on getting to the truth.

  That just meant he had to get there sideways.

  “They died in the Zone. I never knew them. I think I was like one or two years old.”

  “So you live your whole life in the shelter?”

  “Yep.”

  “How long have you been a therizer?”

  “Four years.”

  “And successful, as I can tell.” The scientist now seemed to gain back his composure. “These artifacts you found last night are something extraordinary. Some of them I’ve never seen in my entire life.”

  “I know my craft,” Adrian muttered, feeling his cheeks burn from flattery.

  “That’s good,” Salzman said, smiling. “Because I’ve got a job for you. If you want your artifacts back, you have to bring me something in return.”

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  “Wow, are you making demands? I did not ask your Inanna how much you will pay me if I save her,” Adrian challenged him desperately, suddenly realizing the trap he had fallen into.

  “Sorry. But you’re correct. I am making demands.” Salzman shrugged. “They are not too big, though. If you behave, you’ll be able to return to your orphanage before sunset. With your backpack.”

  Should have threatened him with a pistol, Adrian thought belatedly. But he had never shot a human before. Could he?

  “Look, sir,” he said instead, trying to appeal to his interlocutor’s presumed moral values. Scientists should have high moral values, shouldn’t they? “My friend is in danger. I owe this loot to some tough guys who had kidnapped him, and I need to bring it back as soon as possible. Please, just return what you’ve sto… what you’ve found, and let me go. If you want to hire me for a job, I can meet you here tomorrow, I promise. I do need a job. Just not today, alright?”

  Salzman shook his head, and his face took a sad expression. “I’m afraid, it’s not going to work out,” he said firmly, and Adrian at once realized that he got snared like a bird, and there is no way out of this. “Time is not on our side. The longer you argue with me, the less time you have to actually help your friend.”

  It was all going terribly wrong. Adrian gritted his teeth and could not hold back disdain in his voice.

  “Is this extortion? Is this what specs do?”

  “You can call it that. I can’t walk through the anomalies and search for artifacts. You’re a therizer, give or take. And you can’t go back home without your loot. I’ll be terribly sorry to part with your backpack, because that collection is the most interesting one I've ever come across in the Zone. But I’m willing to do that, if you…

  Adrian tensed.

  “If you go to one place, take one thing from there, and come back here alive.”

  “What’s the place?” He almost surrendered. Salzman was looking him straight in the eyes, smiling.

  “You know the creek? There is a crashed helicopter.”

  “A helicopter? The half-disintegrated, rusty one, with two propellers? I’ve heard of it, but have never been there. The oldies told stories. They said, it’s a deadly place. Lots of radiation, anomalies…”

  “You think you could walk there?”

  Adrian stayed silent. Of course, he knew about the place, which was a part of the shelter’s long-lasting legends. The creek flowed far beyond the region where young orphans typically prowled. A helicopter crashed there many years ago, perhaps at the dawn of the Zone, right after the Accident. People said the places beyond the creek, especially the helicopter itself, were so rich with artifacts that one could make a fortune from just one venture, and many tried.

  No one came back.

  “I don’t know,” Adrian finally said with honesty, returning the scientist’s look. “Too much radiation. I would not risk it there.”

  “Is the radiation the main problem? We can give you equipment. The top-notch protection suit. Even the military guys do not have those. And the pills. But honestly, if you survived four years walking in the Forest, I doubt you need any aid. You don’t even know to what levels of radiation you could have been exposed already. Those levels would kill any ordinary person, but you look quite healthy, right, Inny?”

  “He does,” the girl agreed over her shoulder, tinkering with some equipment at the lab desk. Busy with his blood samples, Adrian guessed.

  Salzman stood up, walked rapidly through the archway, and disappeared for a minute. Adrian could hear him clanking, opening and closing some drawers. He finally returned, holding a piece of paper.

  “We had mapped the field. Have a look.”

  Adrian slowly reached for the paper, stared at it, feeling a slight contempt. It felt strange to see anomalies like this—outlined, with their names, exact sizes, and positions. He had never made maps. As he had been taught, it was a matter of honor for a therizer to memorize the terrain and keep everything in their head. Moreover, often a good memory could save your life.

  The map was thorough, he had to admit. His breath caught when he realized how dense the trail was. After studying it for a few seconds, he reluctantly admitted to himself that it was actually quite helpful—in case he were really to do it. Adrian licked his dry lips and raised his eyes to meet Salzman’s, who was watching him with unfeigned curiosity.

  “What do you need from the helicopter?”

  “It crashed right next to another old scientific bunker. We think the entrance might be accessible through the cabin. You’re clever, you will figure it out, once you’re inside,” he added benignly. “But further, we only know for sure one thing. Once you’re in the bunker, quite close to the entrance, you will find an artifact. It is small, most likely surrounded by anomalies, and can’t be captured by a detector. But for you, getting to it should be a piece of cake. Not more complicated than the Ghost Trail, as you called it.”

  “How do you know? You have not been there.”

  “One of ours managed to get inside. He was on the radio until the last moment. I don’t know how he made it across the creek, though.”

  “What happened to him?”

  “We don’t know. He saw the stone. Then the connection broke.”

  “He could have overdosed,” Adrian proposed uncertainly. “Which means, your fancy top-notch suits do not work there.”

  “Could be, though I don’t think it would kill him instantly. He would still be able to come back. No, it was most likely an anomaly…”

  “Or mutants,” Adrian suddenly guessed, feeling cold. “How long ago was that?”

  “About a week, I think?” The scientist cast an uncertain glance at Inanna, who stood next to the wall, listening to their conversation with a great degree of curiosity. She slightly nodded.

  “There used to be no mutants in this part of the Forest, but recently they appear more and more frequently,” Adrian continued. “Maybe a week ago, they already reached the creek, if they come from the Zone.”

  “I see, you have a weapon,” Salzman noted. “And, based on Inny’s tale, you’re good with shooting.”

  “I guess I am.”

  “And you’re more experienced than my colleague, that’s for sure. We are all rookies here. You were born in the Zone. I think you have a good chance.”

  “I don’t really have a choice, do I?” Adrian grinned bitterly.

  “Not really. I’ll give you the suit and some more rounds. And the map, of course, you can keep it. Inanna will accompany you to the creek. Let the Zone’s blessing be with you.”